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Friday, January 16, 2015

This post features examples of historically Black (African American) Greek letter organizations (Bglos)chants that mention or allude to "paper" and/or "skating" ("sliding"). Definitions of those terms are found below.

The content of this post is presented for cultural and folkloric purposes.

Any copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those whose organization's chants are quoted in this post.

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I consider fraternity & sorority chants and vernacular to be cultural artifacts which deserve to be collected, preserved, and studied. That said, I also believe that fraternity & sorority songs and chants should only be recited and/or performed by those persons who are affiliated with the specific organization that is associated with that particular chant.

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EDITORIAL COMMENT
2015 marks twenty-five years after pledging/hazing was prohibited by all of the Divine Nine (D9)* fraternities and sororities and legally replaced with a membership intake process (MIP). However, from reading online discussions such as "What is skating?" [archive] http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-90475.html [hereafter given as Greekchat-skating], it's clear that the old skool ways of pledging historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities are still very highly valued and are still very widely practiced underground (in secret). This continues inspite of the very real dangers of serious physical injuries and deaths that continue to result from those pledging/hazing processes, inspite of the consequences of being banned by those organizations' national office if those underground activities became known, and inspite of the probability of the organization being sued. Chants that mention or allude to "paper", "skating" or "sliding" into these organizations make it abundantly clear that the Bglo membership intake process and those who are initiated into D9 organizations by way of that process are largely viewed with considerable disgust and disdain.

This post isn't meant to explore the reasons for that. However, I believe that those attitudes won't change by citing injury & death statistics, or amounts that national has to pay because of lawsuits, and/or by threatening to ban those who don't comply with prohibitions on pledging/hazing. In addition to those things, I believe that historically Black Greek letter organizations should seriously consider why pledging the old way was/is so valued, and reform the membership intake process so that it can be both safe and valued.

For the record, I went over (became a member) of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Inc. (Gamma Zeta chapter) in 1967. That said, I became inactive shortly after crossing over (becoming a member), and I've been inactive since. My comment about that will be included in the upcoming pancocojams post about chants that refer to crossing the burning sands.

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BGLO CHANTS
It's not that difficult to find examples of Bglo chants that mention pledging. Some of those examples will be featured in an upcoming pancocojams post on Bglo chants that mention crossing the burning sands.

However, I'm not aware of any other internet or non-internet collection of historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority chants that mention paper or skating (or sliding). By mentioning or alluding to those terms, those chants document the attitudes about the Bglo membership intake process that began in 1990 and which remains the only legal process by which people can join these organizations.

*Divine Nine (D9)
From http://www.blackgreek.com/divinenine/
"There are nine historically Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs) that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Collectively, these organizations are referred to as "The Divine Nine." Each of these fraternities and sororities is rich in history - ties to one or more of these organizations may be found in many college-educated Black families in the United States.
•Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Founded 1906, Cornell University
•Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Founded 1908, Howard University
•Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Founded 1911, Indiana University
•Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Founded 1911, Howard University
•Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Founded 1913, Howard University
•Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Founded 1914, Howard University
•Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Founded 1920, Howard University
•Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Founded 1922, Butler University
•Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Founded 1963, Morgan State University"
-snip-
Note that the Divine Nine (D9) is not a formal term.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pan-Hellenic_Council
"The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities...

The council promotes interaction through forums, meetings and other mediums for the exchange of information and engages in cooperative programming and initiatives through various activities and functions.

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BGLO TERMS
Paper - becoming a member of a historically Black Greek organization by signing papers (as opposed to doing work to become a member and proving that you are worthy of being a member).

Skating (sliding) - expecting an outcome without doing the hard work (with regard to Bglos, becoming a member of a historically Black Greek organization by going through the membership intake process that was instituted in 1990s and not an pledging old skool way.
-snip-
*A commenter on the discussion thread whose link is given above noted that this meaning of "skating" is found outside of Bglos.
"The first time I heard the term skating was while I was in the service....and it's exactly as you described - folks who don't do crap, but yet they get a paycheck, and when advancement cycles come around, if they pass the test and advance to the next paygrade, they get more money to skate. It made for alot of resentful sailors who DID bust their @$$ to do a good job, only to be on the same pay level as a skater. Too bad that performance doesnt equal pay in the military."
-amanda603509-26-2007, Greekchat-skating]

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EXAMPLES OF CHANTS THAT MENTION OR ALLUDE TO PAPER OF SKATING PROCESS OF BECOMING MEMBERS OF BGLO ORGANIZATIONS
For the most part, these chants are presented without explanatory notes. Almost all of these examples were found online. All of the examples of these chants that I've found to date negatively mention skating or paper.

It's likely that all Divine 9 organizations have chants that mention skating or paper. The number of chants in this post that are from any particular organization or the absence of chants from any organization should not be interpreted to mean anything.

Additional chants will be added if I come across them. Additions from blog readers are welcome.

A,B
BLUE AND GOLD
It's that blue, that gold, that blue and that gold
It's that Royal, Royal blue and that Antique Gold

Hey pink, Hey green, Ms.skee-wee thing
there's no reason why you hate us cause we know that you are paperrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr r

A common put down of the membership intake process is that the lines are so big and the interaction between line members so short and infrequent that the members on line together don't even know each others names.
C, D

E, F
EXCUSE ME ELEPHANTS
Excuse me Elephants what did you say?
These girls of 20 pearls pledged A-K-A
So next time paper chasers get permission to speak
Line up and greet me when you see me
or Just bow at my feet
-Anonymous; http://www.cocojams.com/content/fraternity-and-sorority-chants, 10/30/2006
-snip-
cocojams.com is a cultural website that I began in 2001. However, for various reasons, that website will probably go off-line soon. I'm reproducing much of its material on several of my google blog sites.

G, H

I, J
I LOVE MY ZETA PHI BETA

Zeta Phi Beta,
I love my Zeta Phi Beta
I love my sorors and sands
None like them in the land
We can't be duplicated
Or replicated
Or multiplied
Can't slide inside
My Sor-ror-ity
MY Z-PHI-B!
ZEE-PHI!
-http://studenthome.nku.edu/~zpb/chants.html,
retrieved 1/16/2015

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IT'S SO HARD PLEDGING KAPPA ALPHA PSI
It's so hard pledging K-A-Psi
A konstant struggle each and every day....
But I'm gone accept,
That this is how its gone be.
not trying to skate in this fraternity..
I wanna be like Diggs, Big Brother Diggs,
The finest Kappa in this fraternity...
Phi Nu Pi The Diamond in the Sky...
Many have tried but were denied
Phi Nu PI The Diamond In The Sky.
I wanna be like Diggs, Big Brother Diggs,
The finest Kappa in this fraternity!!!!!!!
K-A-Psi None greater..
All men were kreated equal....
Some just look
better.
-Yo Endless Klimaxx ; http://www.cocojams.com/content/fraternity-and-sorority-chants, 5/7/2007

K, L
Lord its so harrrrrrd
pledging K A Pssiiiiii
Phi Nu Pi, the Diamond
in the Skyyyyyy

Manyyyyy Have trieeed
But were Deniiiiiieeddd
Phi Nu Pi, the Diamond
in the Skyyyyy

I wanna be like Diiiiggggs
John Milton Leeeeeee
The Finest Kappaass
in this Fra ter ni tyyy

W, X
WHAT IS A DELTA
What is a Delta, What is a Delta?
Who ain't a Delta, Who ain't a Delta?
A Delta is what you can be
Anyone can join this sorority, just sign your name and they'll put you through
and then you can go Oo-oop too
-LejaLaMorena; http://www.stophazing.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000243 ; 09-29-2005 [retrieved by Azizi Powell, 5/19/2010]
-snip-
This is a diss chant that was performed by a sorority other than Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.

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WHO AIN'T A DELTA
Soloist-Who ain't a Delta?
A Delta is what you can be
All can join this sorority
Just sign your name and they'll put you through
And then you can go "Ooooh, Ooooh" too.

YOU KNOW...
You know those AKA's, better known as Federal Express
Because they got their letters in three days or less
"This is a serious matter"
Ha, Ha so they say
This is a serious matter for an AKA

Alpha Kappa Alpha, the 1st sorority
You couldn't keep your members
So you founded DST
You couldn't keep your members
You couldn't keep your man
Now your man wants a ZETA
And you just don't understand

You know those Deltas; they think they got it going on
They got more members than the Nation of Islam
They don't even know each other
How the hell could this be?
'Cause I saw one at the Union, and she tried to oo-oop me

You know those outcasts in that blue and gold
Their letters aren't real because the SIGMA they stole!
-http://studenthome.nku.edu/~zpb/chants.html,
retrieved 1/16/2015
-snip-
This is a Zeta Phi Beta sorority, Inc. chant.

The line "They got more members than the Nation of Islam" reflects the opinion that large groups of people who become members of the group at the same time must have "skated" (be paper).

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I'm an African American mother, grandmother, & retired human services administrator. For more than forty years I have shared adapted West African stories with audiences in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
I have four blogspots: pancocojams, zumalayah, cocojams2, and .Civil Rights Songs. Much of the content of these blogs were previously found on my cocojams and jambalayah cultural websites. I curate all of these blogs on a voluntary basis.
Each of these blogs have the primary goal of raising awareness about cultural aspects of African American culture and of other Black cultures throughout the world, particularly in regards to music & dance traditions.
Viewer comments are welcome on my blogspots.